A trust that hurts
by hidden stranger
Summary: A human girl frequents the central park zoo, more importantly the penguin exhibit. Rico finds himself drawn to her, will this child bring out the better in the manic bird? Read and Review if you can please.


A/N, This is going to be mostly Rico based, I haven't done something with him yet and it only feels necessary that I try so please bear with me as I give this a shot!

66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

They had seen a great deal of humans each and every day at the New York City zoo.

Each one seemed to be unique in his or her way to them as they stood before the pink fleshy beings giving their traditional smile and wave routine.

Skipper occasionally liked to try and do a survey of those who watched the flightless birds in their home, seeing what criteria each of these humans woul fall under, the main determination was of the visitors was that of traditional whole familes, a mother, a father and either one or two children alongside them. To the birds it was more or less a waiting game until closing time, playing their part until Alice was able to round up everyone and shuffle them out of the park zoo.

Alot of different people came each day, but Kowlaski had noted there was one child that appeared almost each and every day. They never witnessed her being dragged off at closing time by any parents, she seemed to be infact alone most of the time she was there. She would stay for almost two hours each time, watching each of the bird's do a few tricks here and there for a fishy reward. The brains of the flightless birds seemed to find that she mainly found interest in their scarred comrade Rico. Tossing him two more fish when she could, he would leap up and gobble them in the air next her, sending a small laugh out of the child.

Once in a while, although the explosives bird was naturally somewhat shy around people, he tended to grow in confindence around the little girl, stepping closer and closer so she didn't have to throw them so far. Skipper eyed his comrade and the child, not wanting anything to happen to his crew, how was he suppose to decipher wether this kid was a threat or not.

Private noticed this as well,

"Skippa, isn't Rico getting a bit close to the girl there?" The youngest of the bird's asked his superior. Skipper frowned a little as he watched his comrade continually become at ease with the human.

This day seemed to be relativly slow with humans though, the only one to visit them was her. She would stand patiently and wait for the penguins to find their comfort zone with her. Kowlakski and Rico wandered closer to her as she enticed them with a few small fish. Rico clapped eagerly for the treats and then motioned to Kowalski to make a step for him so he could reach the fence. Kowalski raised an eyebrow at this qeustionable at best idea but then reluctently heaved the manic penguin up and let him hold onto the bars of the fence to support himself.

Skipper took a step toward the two birds next to the gate. He would never be able to say he knew what really went on in the constant wheel that was the manic bird's mind. At this point all he could do was pray nothing went out of control, so far so good.

The little girl kneeled down in amazement as the flightless scarred one looked around to check for anyone before slipping himself out of the bars an standing next the girl. She sat down, trying to block the view of the loose bird from anyone else, before handing over a fishy in her small digits. Rico looked up at her carefully and then let a little smile cross his beak as he leaned in and nibbled on th fish, careful not to bite her delicate hand. She giggled wholeheartedly as he licked the remaining taste off her hand. After getting the whole treat he smiled up at her and screamed "FFIIIIIISH!!!!" licking his beak and jumping up and down clapping his wings together.

"RICO! Get back to the base this instant! Now man Now!" Skipper beckoned to his teammate, the last thing they needed was for the entire operation to be compromised because his partner was being careless.

She saw him take a step back and look over at the straight postured smaller bird who appeared to be signaling to the scarred one to return to the habitat. He looked back and forth between his commander, not really wishing to move either direction. The girl raised a curious hand to reach out to him but stopped when she noticed the instant flinch and large eyes he got as she tried to touch him.

Skipper could only gasp, he prayed silently to himself Rico wouldn't react out of fear and hurt the child.

Rico flinched and took a small step back. This person was treating him nicely and he did like it, but there were...rules with him. Noone ever touched him, noone but whoever he'd allowed to before he'd arrived at the central park zoo. He tried to remain friendly with the girl but suddenly his sight was blurred with visons taking over. He backed away from the girl and grabbed his head violently as he curled into a ball on the cold paving stone walkway.

_Nashing snapping jaws every inch the small bird dodged, he ducked and bobbed as he tried to leave the water unmangled. The seals were strong, they were huge and there were dozens of them._

_the ice wasn't too far away, he had maybe twenty feet to go before being on safe land, the young penguin screeched and screamed as he rolled and manuevered every few feet, inches away from a terrible fate. Looking back at the ones he'd left behind to save himself, he couldn't see them for a secound, where were they??? _

_"MAAAMAA!!!" He screeched as he watched the dark spotted leapord dive suddenly where he mother had been just moments ago. The only option at this point was to get to the frozen shore, they would be right behind him, they would make it, they would make it_

_wouldn't they? _

_He climbed with all his strength to the top of the ice and rolled out of the way as he felt a sudden force surfacing quickly. The seal lept out of the water and slammed down onto the ice, breaking off a chunk from the shore. Within minutes the icey waters were calm again, nothing moved_

_WHY HAVEN'T THEY SURFACED???_

_"Maaa" he croaked as he felt his voice dying out, there was no response to the child penguin standing atop the floating ice. _

_He stood there waiting, _

_hours went by that felt like minutes_

_he didn't care, they were coming_

_they'd be there soon_

_they'd all be back together soon_

_he told this to himself again and again as he watched the sun go down,_

_watching the beacon of light fall _

_he felt the heartstrings in his chest begin to be tugged_

_tighter and tighter_

_Why weren't they back yet?_

_Where were they?_

_The lone bird's eyes fell along with his head as he began to look at the frozen floor, there was...red..all around him...on him?_

_he felt his chest and put a fin to his face, pulling it away quickly when he rubbed and open wound on his beak and face, he'd been struck hard when the last seal practically had him in her teeth, he'd cheated death but nothing told him his family had also. _

_Rico stood silently before the broken up ice waters as his eyes began weeping profusly as he bled waiting for those he knew himself were gone forever. _

All the birds were silent as they watched something they had never seen before. The weapons expert, the manic psychopath scarred teammate of theirs, had curled himself into a small ball and started tearing up. He hid his beak into his feathered chest and covered his face with his beak as the memory became all too real for him. Skipper and the other instantly leapt out of the habitat to aid their comrade who'd broken down. Not in the lifetime it felt like they'd spent with eachother had they watched Rico become torn from inside like this. Really it was a haunting image for the youngest of the team who'd always found Rico to be impenatrable, bullet proof and secure with everything around him.

Skipper stood next to the bird and laid a flipper down on his back. He wasn't sure exactly what to do at the moment, nothing had prepared himself for something like this. HE knew little ot nothing of what the scarred bird had experianced before them together at the zoo. Kowalski and Private stepped over and circled the bird who was overcome with emotion. The bird wouldn't acknowledge anyone at the moment, he just stayed curled up in his ball of self hatred, agony and misery.

The girl watched as the birds tried to calm him down, not thinking and just throwing her safetly to the wind, she scooted forward and leaned in and picked up the crying penguin. Putting him into her shoulder she gently stroked his black shiny feathers. Rico began slowly but surely to relax, it took alot of very quiet calming gentle words from the child as she held him close to her in an effort to shake the terrible feelings he bore out. Finally as he became silent again, he slowly looked up at the human that held him. She looked down at him softly and as lightly as she could, set him back on his feet. Quickly pulling another fishy from her box from the zoo store, she handed it to him. He took it and stuffed it into his mouth, eyes red from crying, slight glimmering of snot dribbling from his beak. He gazed up back at her with glassy eyes before stepping over and nuzzling her side with his beak.

"We should get him back to HQ Skipper, he needs rest at least." Kowalski said to Skipper, the leader nodded and ushered Private to lead the way back inside.

He stepped over the girl who ran her fingers down Rico's back and neck again and again. He patted his teammate on the shoulder and motioned for him to return with him back to base. The bird complied and looked back at her one last time before slowly waddling over to his home.

Skipper stepped up to the girl, who looked at him with a sense of worry and slight confusion. She hadn't ment to cause a bird she'd found to be cute to break down like he had, she hoped they were forgiving birds at least. Skipper pointed in the direction of the doors and signaled for her to leave. She picked up her things and walked away, looking back at the leader every now and again to make sure he got back inside okay. Skipper watched her leave and then headed back into the homestead.

Rico sat at the table they had set out usually and stared at the table and everything that sat on it. His eyes drifted from plans to pencils and devices of Kowalski's design to the walls of his home. He then turned and looked back at the three birds trying to to stare at him but he knew what was going to be on their minds. Grabbing his spellspeak, he began punching in letters to fill in the team of what had just happened.

S

C

A

R

"Scar" the device chimed happily, it was almost a sickening tone of poisitivity to the crazed bird.

Kowalski walked over to him,

"Your scar?" He watched as Rico kept punching in buttons

F

a

m

i

l

y

"Family" he didn't stop until he was finished for sure.

a

l

l

g

o

n

e

"All Gone"

L

e

a

p

o

r

d

S

e

a

l

s

"Leapord Seals"

The last two words struck the three birds like a sledgehammer to the waist. He was telling them his scar was why his family was dead. They'd been on the wrong end of a vicous attack of the most brutal and destructive of water mammals they knew.

Private put two flippers to his face in shock, Skipper looked down in moarning for his fellow penguin. He'd lost many a troop to the vicous cats of the sea, each one came with its own string of heartache. He took a seat next to Rico and laid a flipper on his comrade's who rested his head on both his own.

"I'm sorry dear friend, you never tol any of us, but now I know why." The scarred penguin shuddered a little as he felt the sickening feelings rising up in him again. He leaned over and vomited up a few tools and random objects of no particular neccessity. He set his head on the table and rested both flippers on the back of his neck, trying not to look at anyone. It was to the flightless birds a dark day, but Kowalski soon thought of a plan.

"Rico...would you like a chance to properly honor your family with a traditional funeral? Would this help?" The scarred bird looked up to his brainy teammate for a secound before letting a sliver of a smile adorn his beak. Closing his eyes and nodding he sat up, staring up at the table once more and then looking up at his teammates around him. They all showed their support in this decision. Skipper worked on organizing a zoo meeting in order for preparations to be made for the remembrance. Kowalski began working with Rico on locations he'd like, Private went out to alert the zoo for a meeting to be held.

Rico sniffled slightly and felt himself finally feeling good again, the brothers he sat with would be there for him in the deepest darkest time of his life. He may have lost his loved ones, but he gained three in their place.

66666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666

A/N, Hey so yeah this was kinda sat to write but I hadn't done a Rico work that I wanted yet so now I have, life is good, very nice and...good lol. Review if you please, I live for feedback!


End file.
